-
Audio guy in FCP, help with Timecode
I work in audio post. i get videos from editors and i have to add a tiimecode generator (which i have already). and export a H.264./AAC. to about 160mb to send for caption, translation and diferent parts of the world using Digidelivery.
now the editors are giving me split files (2 Quicktimes) and i have to add timecode to that,. the problem is that if i have to separate regions or files i have to export them to “glue” them together and then re-import them to add the time code. if i add time code to one region and then the other the second region will start at 00:59:58:00 (my preset TC effect) . i tries offsetting the start of the TC effect but thats takes sooooo much time.
so it rttakes me 3 hours instead of 1 to add TC. and we are doing a daily series with ptoduction of regular series (24-hours editing/shifts)I have a power mac dual 2.5 and 4.5 of sdram. so its pretty fast.
anyone know how can i make this process of adding timecode to a quicktime file i get (H.264/PCM audio) in a faster way and exporting to H264/aac (takes me about an hour/hour and a half now)
and/or to add time code in 2 separate regions in one pass instead of my “glueing”
sorry if my terms are off. im an audio guy so if u need audio help just let me know.
-
4 Replies
-
Alright, let me see if I get this correct…
You have two clips and you want to run continuous tc across both of the clips? Correct? This is easy, instead of exporting/reimporting, simply create a new sequence, then drag your original sequence into the new (empty) sequence. Your two clips are now seen as one long clip. This is called nesting, as in you nested the original timeline inside another timeline. You can add the tc generator to the nest and have continuous tc.
OR
You can use the frame offset in the tc generator filter and switch your timeline tc from hh:mm:ss:ff to only frames by control clicking the tc window at the top left corner of your timeline and change it from NDF (or df) to ‘frames’. Then go to the end of the first clip and see how many frames your first clips currently is. Then add the tc generator to the second clip and put that number +1 in the offset window. For instance. If Clip1 is 10 seconds, then that’s 300 frames (assuming an NTSC sequence). So when you add the tc generator to the second clip, set the frame offset to 301. Make sense? You will now have continuous tc across both separate clips.
As far as making h264 files faster, that, I’m afraid, is tough. H264 is a processing hog and takes a long time to make. I am sure there are some hardware encoders, but they are probably really really expensive and perhaps not worth the expense. Or maybe they are?
Jeremy
-
nice! i like the nesting version. thanks.
also, would be faster to change the settings of the sequence to reflect that of the QT i recieve (h264/PCM audio) and do the time code effect and export faster.
that way FCP will only have to encode the AAC audio and not the H264. only add TC. (unless the TC effect is a cpu hog)i tried once but the quality was too grany and crappy.
-
Unfortunately, h264 is not an editing codec, but rather a delivery/web codec. FCP will have to render that codec no matter what.
Jeremy
-
thanks!
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up